Maria Garcia, a former North Rockland Racewalker who plans to compete for the Dominican Republic, medaled at the USATF-NY Racewalks in her first race since undergoing surgery in November.
Nancy Haggerty/lohud

The demands of college and a part-time job probably would have been reason enough.

Then in November, after probably going too hard in a 20-kilometer race, Maria Garcia found herself undergoing surgery for a build-up of fluid in her pelvic cavity.

Garcia graduated from North Rockland High School two years ago after finishing second at indoor States in the 1,500-meter racewalk, second in the high school outdoor New Balance Nationals in the mile racewalk and third in the indoor New Balance Nationals one mile racewalk.

But the surgery added a huge question mark to that and Garcia contemplated giving up the sport.

Then she thought of her former North Rockland teammates and her grandfather

“I (thought) I made it this far. I can’t give up. I feel people were seeing something I wasn’t,” she said. Katelyn (Tuohy), Haleigh (Morales) Sofia Housman were good motivation,” she said of her former Red Raider teammates, who are still on North Rockland’s team. “They’re the same girls who told me to keep going. I can’t stop now.”

And then there was her large family, many back in the DR. The folks who simply call her “Champion.”

Chief among her supporters was her grandad, who passed away at almost 103 years old in November. Because of her injury, Garcia had to miss his funeral.

She couldn’t stop racing, not after he’d given her all his support and not with a whole bunch of other relatives backing their champion.

“There’s still all the people left for me – still rooting for me,” Garcia said after circling the DeWitt Clinton High School track 12-and-a-half times Saturday during the U.S. Track & Field 5,000-meter New York Racewalk Championships.

Garcia, who was on the track with an eclectic group of people – kids as young as 11 participating in a 1,500-meter race, and folks in their 60s – finished sixth out of 24 open competitors, fifth among open women and first among USTF-NY region (metropolitan area) open female athletes, clocking 27:05.20.

The day was huge by racewalk standards.

The event drew 76 competitors. That was up from 47 last year. The number was said one of the largest turnouts for a racewalk competition in the past 20 years in the country, according to USATF-NY Racewalk Chairman and White Plains resident Bill Vay.

“I think this is true testament that racewalking is back,” said Don Lawrence, USATF-Adirondack racewalk chair.

Vayo, whose daughter Lucy, an Ursuline junior, competed, has been lobbying, so far to no avail, for the New York State Public High School Athletic Association, which has a winter indoor racewalking championship to create a spring outdoor championship.

“I don’t think it will happen, so we want to give the girls the opportunity to compete at the next level,” he said, referring to Saturday’s event.

Like Garcia, Audrey Fox was racing for the first time since being sidelined by injury.

Fox, one of five of coach Andy Capellan’s athletes competing Saturday, was the top racewalker in Section 1. But between the flu, then a stress fracture and tendanitis, she missed six weeks of competition this winter, including all the major championships.

“It doesn’t matter what the distance is. I just love it. If feels so good,” she said.

Only two racewalkers were disqualified, which was particularly noteworthy given the sets of eyes on them. Six officials (not including two at the finish) were spread around the track and five were among only 25 in the world with a rating high enough to judge Olympic and World Champion racewalking.

“I’m glad I didn’t know,” New Rochelle sophomore Julissa Oceguera said with a smile of being judged by the elite.

She’d been DQ’d in previous two two races but performing in only her second 5,000-meter racewalk (high school races are 1,500 or a mile), she finished in a solid 30:49.4.

Freshman teammate Martha Diaz was cited once for lifting (having both feet off the ground at one time) but finished in 31:10.8.

The crowd of onlookers was small, maybe a couple of dozen people. But that didn’t seem to bother anyone in this difficult but under-the-radar sport.